powerwave

i've heard mixed reviews of both the kyb's and the gabriels. we got all 4 struts brand new for $70 incl shipping (wholesale, ebay ) so we can't complain. besides, anything is an improvement from this.

yeah we've still got the auto trans in there. both transmissions were good, no sense in letting two of em sit around. we're still waiting to find a 2g camry with a bad trans- drop the spare in, sell it for bucks, pay off the whole hit and run.

Choas

Wow good price.

powerwave

took the es out for a good drive last night- about 60 miles round trip. it did excellent except for that suspension issue, and still hasn't leaked a drop of fluid (excepting the trans pan, but that gasket's sitting around waiting for him to have the time anyway)

recovered the r12, converted to r134a and recharged the a/c- and wow it kicks ***. heat advisories have yet to let up on us down here.

powerwave

final test, DH took it on a ~220 mile road trip to see family this weekend since our struts aren't here yet. he said powertrain wise, the car is EXCELLENT. a/c still blowing nice and cold, all is well. coming home tomorrow, another 220 miles.

it was apparently really hard to handle on the mountain roads, but that's expected given the shape of the suspension.

ryannel200

Ok I know this thread is old, but I swear in the second or third picture on the 1st page that looks JUST LIKE MY CAMRY!!! I have never seen one just like mine. Wow, that's really hard to believe. Interesting. I wonder if it really is my Camry.

powerwave

could be if you're in the triangle area!

tC350

Im dying to know after reading all of this, hows the ES??

powerwave

unfortunately we had to park it.

the primary reason was that we got another car that runs on pretty much free fuel- DH is back in school so we've had to rearrange our priorities in the name of making ends meet. (see my sig for explanation)

the secondary reason is that it's developing the early stages of that 2vz cursed rod bearing knock. it will keep on going for a long time, no doubt, but we'd rather reduce wear and tear on it. eventually we're going to convert it to electric.

BadViper22

Nooo! I thought you were gonna drop a 3vz in when you had the resources.

powerwave

yeah, we really gave the 3vz swap a lot of consideration. but DH is a nitpicker, he'd never dump an engine into it without a total rebuild, block machining, head surface machining, etc. several thousand dollars worth of work. ugh.

or, for a few grand more we can go electric and never fill up that gas tank again. (it hit $50/tank/week for my short little commute right before we parked it!) he's been wanting to try a conversion, he's done plenty of engines.

what's so bad about electric? hp is a little lower but the torque makes up for it.

BadViper22

Nothings bad about electric, I was just so curious about how it would all go. But Id love to see that project too!! Keep us updated on everything.

tC350

oh that sucks about the rod bearing thing......well best of luck to you with the next chapter: gas-free

llcoolpass

eww poison batterys and strip-mined mountains
but hey electric is neat ,can't wait to see

powerwave

it's probably not going to be until mid-late 2009. we gotta get real jobs before getting into that

trust me, there's more nickel used to make a big new suv than in the batteries for an ev conversion. li-ion is getting a lottttt cheaper too. could be by then we could go that route.

paintrain

wow, thats really clean for a 1990. kudos and good luck